Riki
Riki (リキ; English dub: ) is one of the seven playable characters in Xenoblade Chronicles and a member of the mercantile Nopon race. Although he looks like a child, he is actually 40 years old and six of his children can be found in Frontier Village. In the English version, Riki eventually reveals (during a side quest) that he has a total of 11 children (Although in the epilogue, Reyn remarks that he will be in trouble if he doesn't catch enough food for fourteen, possibly meaning Oka gave him another "littlepon" after the storyline events). A natural story-teller, he will go on at length about how he is actually a legendary hero spoken of in Nopon prophecy. He seems to eat a lot despite his small size, a trait shared by his children, and he accompanies Shulk and the group as a way to pay off the heavy debts that have arisen from this. Storyline The party is first introduced to Riki in a short, humorous scene. The characters are seemingly unimpressed with the compact hero and are unsure what to make of him. This does not improve upon learning that Riki expects them to find equipment for him, too. Riki informs the group that his reason for being the Heropon (chosen legendary warrior for the Nopon race) is that he owes "lots of monies" to the people of Frontier Village. However he does mention that they will forget his debts should he successfully slay the "Dinobeast" that has been plaguing Makna Forest. When Reyn doubts if Riki will be of any help, he immediately suggests that they hunt the "Dinobeast", by finding a place where there are many Ether Crystals. Apparently the Telethia they are hunting prefers to nest where there are Ether Crystals. Upon finding the Telethia, Riki becomes quite angered with the way "his Makna Forest" has been damaged. Melia mentions that Telethia will absorb Ether from the surrounding environment. They engage the beast in battle. After the fight, Riki takes most of the credit back in Frontier Village for slaying the "Dinobeast", even though according to the rest of the group, he did not actually do very much. Gameplay In gameplay, Riki could be described as a combination of Black Mage & Thief, thanks to his Debuffs and Pickpocket skill. He has fairly good moves for inflicting status ailments onto enemies. He can learn to steal EXP and AP from enemies, too. Sadly, even though he has the highest Hp of all playable characters, he can only wear light armor until further linked, and only has average agility (slightly better than Shulk's) making him an acceptable dodge tank. Art List * Yoink! Art (steal something from an enemy, at first only items or stat boosts but later he can obtain XP and AP with skills) * Happy Happy (fills party gauge, high tension required) * Bitey Bitey (bleed damage, back-hit extends duration) * Sneaky (back-hit triples damage) * Play Dead (removes all aggro, heal HP like when revived, increases Physical Arts damage) * Lurgy (poisons enemies in a frontal cone) * Hero Time (prevents tension decrease, increases a single stat at random) * Roly Poly (may force Topple, binds if Topple fails) * Behave (inflicts Paralysis, may remove Crazed, less effective with lower tension) * Riki is Angry (counter all non Talent Art damage by reflecting 2, 4 or 8 times the damage) * Bedtime (sends all enemies around Riki to sleep, as well as Riki himself) * You Can Do It (heals targets in a straight line, amount depends on the number of debuffs on the enemy) * Peekaboo (side-hit confuses Mechon) * Say Sorry (removes debuffs from enemy, but increases damage for each one) * Burninate (causes Blaze damage in a circle around Riki) * Freezinate (causes Chill damage to a single enemy) * Tantrum (3-hit combo, causes Break in a frontal cone) Additional Skill Trees Riki's fourth Skill Tree "Cowardice" can be acquired via the quest "Getting Bigger!" from Frontier Village and has the following prerequisites: * Prison Island cleared * Medical Advancements OR Let's Make Fillings! completed * Healing the Healer completed * Legendary Nopon Charm completed * Mislabeling Problem completed * 4 star affinity with Central Bionis Riki's fifth Skill Tree "Heroism" can be acquired via the quest "Final Challenge of the Sage" and has the following prerequisits: * Mechonis Core Cleared * Honouring the Nopon Sage completed * Meeting the Nopon Sage completed * Legend of the Sage completed * Challenge of the Sage completed Additionally it requires the defeat of a level 96 unique monster. Presents 4 Hearts * Love Source (Strange; Other) 3 Hearts * Soft Sea Cucumber (Animal ; Makna Forest) * Moth Crawler (Bug ; Bionis' Leg) * Rubber Mantis (Bug ; Ether Mine) * Glider Cockroach (Bug ; Central Factory) 2 Hearts * Kelp Mushroom (Veg ; Makna Forest) * Ice Cabbage (Veg ; Valak Mountain) * Golden Beetroot (Veg ; Fallen Arm) * Energy Aubergine (Veg ; Mechonis Field) * Sour Gooseberry (Fruit ; Bionis'Leg) * Ice Kiwi Fruit (Fruit ; Fallen Arm) * Prairie Dragonfly (Bug ; Colony 9) * Brown Butterfly (Bug ; Tephra Cave) * Wheel Lurker (Bug ; Galahad Fortress) * Forest of Gossip (Strange ; Makna Forest) Quotes * "New Hom Hom friends!" * "Meet this year's Legendary Heropon, Riki! Riki live to serve!" '' * ''"Riki's friends, listen to Riki! Dinobeast is big and scary!" '' * ''"Friends get ready, friends help Riki get ready!" '' * ''"Riki's friend right, Hom Hom clever!" '' * ''"Friends meet Riki when ready. Then friends and Riki leave together!" Reyn: Big attitude for a furry footrest. *imitating Riki* 'Dinobeast is big and scary', Great. That'll come in handy. '' * ''"Of course Riki know!" * "Melly! Riki hear you hurt Dinobeast!" '' * ''"When Dinobeast hurt, Riki know it go to place with ether crystals. Friends and Riki go to place with crystals. Then we find Dinobeast! Chief tell Riki! Chief always right!" '' * ''"Why I the Heropon? Because Chief Dunga chose Riki!" '' * ''"Friend wrong! Chief choose by instinct!" '' * ''"Why friend surprised? Chief have sharp instinct. Chief be village seer!" '' * ''"*sigh* Riki owe lots of monies to village. If Riki defeat Dinobeast, village promise to forget my debts. So Riki like being Heropon!" * "Ok, Riki ready for round two- uh, what? Monster defeated already? Riki not know!" * "Chief Dunga made up legend one minute ago!" * "Dundun watch over Shulk, Dundun watch over Fiora. That is all a daddypon can do." to Dunban on Fallen Arm * "Riki listen because Riki is the Heropon" The following quotes can be heard in-battle * "Now, now... BEHAVE!" * "RIKI SNEAKY!" * "Riki's Sidekicks do good!" Sharla: "SIDEKICKS!?... Well... whatever makes you happy!" * "Riki's Sidekicks do good!" Shulk: "Teach us, Heropon Riki!" * "Riki fight better then anyone!" * "Now you have... the Lurgy..." * "Heropon's breath makes monster sick!" * "FFFFreezing!" * "Monster! {screams}" * "Riki like fighting eaaasy monsters!" * "Riki can win by himself." * "Everybody do good!" * "Riki find goodies!" * "Riki feel faster!" * "Riki hungry..." * "Shulk! Go now!" * "Riki get lonely without you!" * "Sidekicks... finish... fight..." * Dunban: "Mighty Heropon, I can see that you're in pain." Riki: "Hm, nothing can beat Riki." Shulk: "Stop it, Dunban, you're embarrassing Riki." * "B-b-b-burninate" * "Riki show secret Nopon special move!" * "Sharla, pow bam yeah!" * "Victory to Riki!" * Riki: "Aww... Riki wish Melly real sister-pon" Melia: "Aww... What about Sharla?" Riki: "Sharla more like mama-pon. Riki think one Mama enough" Sharla: "Now just hold on one minute!" * Riki: "Sidekicks try hard" Reyn: "What, who do you calling sidekicks?" Riki: "Don't see anyone else, must be you." * "Roly Poly keep on rolliiiiiing!" * "Heropon snap chop!" Trivia * Riki's debt is the same as the value of "20,000 fish eggs" (whatever those are), according to a heart-to-heart with Reyn in Makna Forest. * Riki seems to be able to hear, but not see, the ghosts of dead people. He displays ability twice in the game. Once after the battle with Lorithia where he hears Kallian. Secondly at a heart-to-heart with Dunban in the Sealed Tower (Ose Tower) in Valak Mountain, as described here in this link. Tips and Tricks * It is recommended to use Riki's arts that cause damage over time, such as bleed / chill / poison / burninate etc, at the beginning of battle so it continues to do damage throughout the fight. * Because using a chain attack raises the affinity between all battle party members each time it is used, Riki can raise the affinity through battle easier than any other character by frequent use of the Happy Happy art & killing enemies with a chain attack. Happy Happy art will raise the party gauge nearly one bar, and for every enemy you kill during a chain attack your party gauge raises by one bar. If you set it up so Riki can do Happy Happy at the beginning of battle and kill the previous enemy with a chain attack (where Riki again does a Happy Happy during his turn at chain attack), you will walk into your next battle with nearly two thirds of your party gauge full! In this way it becomes much easier to use a chain attack nearly every battle, which raises affinity between party members each time. * As Happy Happy requires high tension to use, make this art readily available at the beginning of battle by giving Riki Initial Tension and Tension Swing gems. Further, skill link him with Shulk's "Battle Cry" skill, and Dunban's "Warrior Ambition" to raise amount of tension gained from Battle Start Affinity. It is also recommended to equip & "Mind Of The Warrior" skill to maintain Party Gauge between battles. * Riki can further increase party gauge by skill linking Shulk's "Epic Evasion" skill. Do not get it if you are running low on affinity coins, as it is the least useful for this strategy in terms of effectiveness versus affnintiy coins required per skill. * If you are feeling especially cheesy you can max out your party gauge without ever hitting an enemy. Simply target an enemy far off in the distance, get tension from battle start affinity, activate the Happy Happy art to increase your party gauge about a third, then run from battle & repeat. You will be so far from your opponent you can easily hit Happy Happy & run away without ever being in danger. Repeating these steps will allow you to max out your party gauge without risk. *Riki is the easiest character to obtain AP with because he can steal AP with his Yoink! talent. Further, since killing a monster with a chain attack rewards double the amount of EXP, AP & SP; using Riki's Happy Happy art allows the party to use chain attacks the easiest, ultimately awarding more AP. *Riki actually makes an excellent tank late in the game, after a little tweaking of course! Here is the recipe I used to transform Riki into a proper Heropon: ** Skills: I'd recommend a level 3 affinity with both Shulk and Dunban, though it is not required to make our little Heropon a suitable meat shield. In fact, Riki is capable of taking a beating without any affinity work. The first area to address is Riki's armor, as my strategy encourages Riki to eat blows (as we know Riki loves to eat), not to dodge them (Though he can also dodge them in a non spike set up.}. Skill link with Dunban's "Medium Equipment" skill, which is conveniently a first level skill, in order to gain the defensive bonuses of the medium equipment. The other skill link I'd highly recommend is Shulks "Battle Cry," in order to maximize tension, allowing Riki to use his "Happy Happy" art at the start of battle. I'd suggest also linking Dunban's "Reckless Abandon" (increases agility when hp is half''' Though I wonder why since dodge and spiking don't go well together') and "Sustained Spirit" (extends the duration of auras by 10 sec '''actually this is a very nice skill'), but they aren't as crucial as upgrading to medium armor. (However for a spike set up, the more damagye Riki takes, the more damage that is reflected, so an alternative is to accept light armour provided that there are enough healers in this strategy) "Sustained Spirit" adds a lot of flavor to this build, but isn't crucial. Shulks third skill link "Cheer of a Friend," allows Riki to more quickly fill the party gauge, one of his strong suits. Alternatively to Dunban's "Medium Equipment", if you have a level three affinity with Reyn, you can skill link "Heavy Equipment." I defeated the final boss using Riki as a tank without doing so though. Riki gets Heavy Equipment as a skill in his 5th skill tree so he does not need any linking. Dunban's Overwhelming is a better skill for a spike strategy. ** Gems: '''Place some Aggro up gems into Riki's weapons, because he's not naturally suited for holding aggro. As for equipment slots, place two Spike gems in order to max out spike (250), or get close to doing so, and place a maxed Aura Heal gem (150) in a slot. Top off the equipment slots with phsyical protect and muscle up gems. '''Instead of adding the Aggro Up gems, it is easier to link Dunban's Overwhelming skill for an aggro boost and allow the characters who need to be protected get aggro down skills or Arts Stealth. Spike gems deal little enough damage that other gems could be used instead like Unbeatable and Agility (allow Riki to become a minor dodge tank). Aura Heal is nice but not neccessary so that can be exchanged for something else. For a DoT based Riki: Blaze, Chill, and Poison gems should already fill his Weapon Slots. ** Arts: In my Riki build I used "Happy Happy," "You Can Do It," "Riki is Angry," "Tantrum," "Bitey Bitey," "Peekaboo," "Freezinate," and "Roly-Poly." Be warned that Roly-Poly is highly chance based, and that Hero Time is a much more defensive buff than Riki is Angry since Hero Time eliminates Tension loss for all party members nearby as well as gives Riki a chance to obtain a high boost in defensive buffs of Ether Up, Physical Defense Up, and Agility Up from 5 possible buffs. Riki is Angry is used purely for Spiking enemies to death. An alternate set up that would not remove Riki's main source of damage, DoTs would be Happy Happy, You Can Do It, Hero Time, Bitey Bitey, Lurgy, Burninate, Freezinate, and a free skill (Behave, Tantrum, Peekaboo, Say Sorry for a Debuff cancel party, and Riki is Angry a spikey Riki) ** Strategy: 'At the start of battle use "Happy Happy" (battle start affinity with Shulks "Cheer of a Friend" skill link should start the battle with the required tension). Gain and hold aggro using Tantrum and Freezinate, as they have fairly low cooldowns. Once aggro is held pop "Riki is Angry." This is where the fun starts. With the aura heal gem, this is effectively a regenerate ability as well, healing 150hp every 2 seconds. '(Nice only without Healers otherwise redundant) Combined with the 250 spike gems, Riki can reflect a massive amount of damage back to the enemies (up to 8 times in spike damage even WITHOUT Spike gems spike counters!). With Dunban's skill linked "sustained spirit" and the art maxed, this aura will last longer than the length of most regular battles. When low on hp Riki can provide excellent supplementary healing with "You Can Do it." Also, with "Happy Happy," Riki can create chain links quicker than any other character (Dunban, Fiora - Double Attack Set Up is faster assuming they hit), which is always good for an emergency. Using this strategy I defeated the final boss with a party of Riki, Shulk, and Melia at level 80.(I defeated the superbosses with a party of Melia, Riki, and Sharla at level 86...)that even matter? Who says Riki is a worthless character!?(Only people who don't know that Riki's one of the most versatile characters - very good arts color selection, 2nd best healer, 4th best tank (only because of aggro), good DPS, best spiker, 3rd best chain filler (only because of Happy Happy cooldowns), a useful talent, 2nd best Support (Shulk is first only because of the Monado Powers), 2nd best Ether user with DoTs that stack with the best Ether User and decent AI... Gallery Riki with weapon.png|Riki with his Biter riki concepts.jpg|Concepts Riki concepts 2.jpg|Concepts Riki concepts 3.jpg|Concepts Riki concepts 4.jpg|Concepts Compilation_Armor_Riki.jpg|Compilation of Riki's armor Riki_Battle_Tactics_C.png|Riki - Battle Tactics images External Links First Encounter Video Category:Characters Category:Playable Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Protagonists Category:Nopon Category:Frontier Village Category:Pages with spoilers